“My hair is red enough!” says Mortal Instruments’ Lily Collins

The Mortal Instruments centers around Clary Fray, a seemingly ordinary Brooklynite who gets sucked into a world of demons and rune-clad monster slayers known as the Shadowhunters.

When it comes to adapting this much-loved saga for the big screen, however, it’s not that simple. Even the hair colour of the main character can cause the fans and actors to lose sleep. When author Cassandra Clare stepped on the set of City Of Bones, star Lily Collins broached the issue:

“Everyone was blogging, ‘Your hair is not red enough!’ and I was like, “First of all, you’re seeing me in the shade walking in Toronto, it looks darker but on screen with the lighting…” Collins tells us. “But when I asked [Cassandra Clare] about the red hair, she goes, ‘Well, I never exactly specified what colour red; that’s the fans.’ So that was a weight off my shoulders.

“I’m like, ‘Did I miss something, that they talked about how red her hair was?’ and she’s like, “No, you just keep doing your thing. Someone is always going to have something to say, but you were chosen for a reason.” And she had every faith in all the actors. So that was kind of the most important thing.”

Collins should know after all, as a self-proclaimed fan of the series long before the role came up. What she loved about Clary was how much she could identify with the troubled teen: “She is really close to her mom and this whole journey is about her quest to save her, and she’ll do anything she can to get her back. I’m so close with mine, so I saw myself in that position as doing exactly what Clary would have done.”